The spiritual formation of the future writer was strongly influenced in childhood by his mother, or rather, by her imaginary image. Tolstoy did not remember his mother, because she died when he was only two years old, and he could not imagine her as a real being, but her spiritual appearance was vividly formed in the boy’s imagination for the rest of his life. Having received a rich but neglected estate for his wife, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy took up farming and took care of raising children. Tolstoy loved his father very much. His father seemed to him to be a kind and kind-hearted man. Nikolai Ilyich was polite and affectionate with everyone, but he never humiliated himself before anyone, did not envy anyone, and always knew how to maintain his self-esteem.
T.A. became the second mother and closest adviser to Leo who was entering the life. Ergolskaya, who was his second cousin. All the time she lived in the Tolstoy house and became attached to the children with all her heart, especially to Lyova.
One of the painful experiences of Tolstoy's childhood and adolescence was the death of people close to him - his father and grandmother. The father died suddenly, under unclear circumstances. This happened in June, when Leva was not nine years old. Less than a year later, my grandmother died. The death of his father, which so stunned Lev, also led to purely external changes in his life: the whole family moved to Moscow. Over the next four years (1837 - 1841), Tolstoy, his three older brothers and his younger sister lived either in Moscow or in Yasnaya Polyana, where they were usually brought for the summer. When their father died, custody of the orphaned children passed in 1837 to their dear aunt A.I. Osten-Sacken. She took upon herself all the troubles of raising and educating her nephews. The rhythm and household routine established in the house of the guardian aunt was interrupted by the death of A.I. Osten-Sacken in the summer of 1841. Little Leo Tolstoy wrote epigraphic poems that were placed on her tombstone. This was the first literary work Tolstoy:
Asleep for earthly life,
You have crossed an unknown path.
In the abodes of heavenly life,
Your peace is sweet and enviable.
Hoping for a sweet date
And live with faith beyond the grave,
Nephews this sign of remembrance
They erected it to honor the ashes of the deceased.
This death again stirred up the bitter feelings and sad thoughts that had subsided in the teenager’s soul. Tolstoy turned exactly thirteen that year.
In November 1841, all the children of the Tolstoy family moved to Kazan, where their second aunt, P.I. Yushkova, who was appointed the new guardian of the minor children, lived. However, no one in the family was involved in his upbringing. Tolstoy's older brothers graduated from university without any difficulty. Leo had difficulties. In September 1844, Lev was enrolled in the faculty of Arabic-Turkish literature. But after two years of study, without passing the transfer exams, he transferred to the Faculty of Law and, after studying for another two years, left the university.
By this time, the inheritance had already been divided between the brothers. According to an unwritten tradition, the estate in which the family lived was usually left to the youngest son. So Lev got Yasnaya Polyana. Yasnaya Polyana was considered a non-profitable estate, so the brothers paid the owner several thousand rubles in cash.
Already in May 1847, Tolstoy arrived in Yasnaya Polyana. He considered it his duty to take care of the farming himself. He had a goal - “to make as many of his peasants as possible happy.” But all his good intentions and plans came to nothing.
In addition to household chores, Tolstoy had others that were no less important and urgent for him. Recognizing that “the purpose of human life is the all-round development of humanity.” Tolstoy concluded that participation in the implementation of this lofty goal is possible only through constant self-improvement. In practice, this involved solving two problems: completing education and tirelessly - day after day - engaging in moral self-education.
Tolstoy (Count Alexei Konstantinovich) - famous poet and playwright.
Born on August 24, 1817 in St. Petersburg. His mother, the beautiful Anna Alekseevna Perovskaya, a pupil of gr. A.K. Razumovsky, married in 1816 an elderly widower, Count. Konstantin Petrovich T. (brother of the famous medalist artist Fyodor T.). The marriage was unhappy; An open break soon occurred between the spouses.
He spent his early childhood in Ukraine, on the estate of his uncle A. Perovsky, a writer famous in the 20s. under the pseudonym Pogorelsky. He received a home education and was close to court life. He traveled widely throughout Russia and abroad, from 1836 he served in the Russian mission in Frankfurt, and in 1855 he participated in the Sevastopol campaign. He died on his Chernigov estate. Despite his brilliant court career (he was an aide-de-camp to Alexander II, then a Jägermeister), Tolstoy in his work reflected the Fronder sentiments of a Slavophile hue. Tolstoy’s conflicts with Alexander II based on the struggle for the poet’s personal independence, for his liberation from court bonds were reflected in “Ilya Muromets” (“I bow to the desert empress again”), in “Sadko”, where the royal court is caustically ridiculed in an allegorical form, as well as in the declarative poem “John of Damascus,” glorifying the poet’s departure from the magnificent palace of the caliph (“let me go, caliph, let me breathe and sing in freedom”).
The roots of Tolstoy's love of freedom lie deep in the past. He waxes poetic in every possible way Kievan Rus, contrasted with absolutism as supposedly anti-Slavic at its core, the “Tatar” principle (“Snake-Tugarin”, “Stream-Bogatyr”). Slavophiles of the 40-50s. elevated the Moscow period of Russian history into a cult. T. was convinced that the Moscow period was also a perversion of the truly Slavic spirit. Ivan the Terrible, precisely as the destroyer of boyar families and the creator of a bureaucratic state, symbolizes in the eyes of T. the evil beginning in Russian history. Turning to Russian history, T. turned into heroes all fighters for the restoration of feudal liberties (“Prince Mikhailo Repnin”, “Vasily Shibanov”), angrily mocking the zealots of centralism not only in historically, but also in topical responses (see, for example, the poem “Unity”, castigating Katkov), and at the same time even more violently rejecting politically progressive, bourgeois-democratic trends (“Stream-hero”, “Ballad with a tendency”) . T.'s poetic products are, firstly, ballads from Old Russian (sometimes Old Scandinavian) life with a clearly expressed heroic theme, and secondly, a number of lyrical works, mainly reflecting a craving for nature, for primitive life impressions. It should be noted that in T.’s ballads, heroic epicness is combined with cheerful biologism, with a loving insight into the life of birds, animals and plants, with which the emotional world of T.’s favorite heroes is so in harmony. The hero of T.’s ballads is, as a rule, depicted in the form a courageous, full-blooded and rude barbarian. Physical strength, courage, and indestructible health are worshiped. Tolstoy playwright poet
Cheerful biologism, intoxication with the rage of the “joyful month of May”, under the influence of which “dragonflies sing in the meadows, streams sing in the forests”, and the prince’s daughters “can’t sew, even if you break the needles” - serves as the leitmotif of the ballad “Matchmaking”, where we have an example a combination of feudal heroics with the poeticization of the spring joy of nature. It is characteristic that the death that awaits the feudal hero T. (“Kanut”) is not perceived in a gloomy light, since it is depicted against the backdrop of spring blossoms, softening the tragedy of the plot. Here are the roots of primitive pantheism, the peculiar paganism of T. T. perceives the Baptism of Rus' with a touch of very noticeable irony (“The priests came in crowds, crossed themselves and burned incense”). In T.'s interpretation, Prince Vladimir is by no means a Christian who cares about the enlightenment of his country, but a most genuine pagan barbarian who perceives Christian morality. The combination of pagan sympathies with the ideology of Slavophilism gives T.'s position a certain originality, sharply distinguishing it from canonical Slavophilism. In contrast to the cliches of salon poetry, he very often vividly conveys a rough, healthy feeling of being. The craving for patriarchy explains the presence in T. quite often of a deliberate decline in style, a desire for common people both in vocabulary and in the selection of visual material. The Slavophile tendency determines T.'s craving for imitation folk song(“If only I knew, if only I knew”, “Oh, what an honor it is for a fine fellow to spin flax”, etc.). Some of it village landscapes outwardly they resemble Nekrasov’s (“At the old and shaky mill, men were sitting in the grass; a cart with a broken horse was lazily bringing up sacks”). But T.'s realism wears external character, T. does not have any deep truthfulness in reflecting reality, except for some aspects of the modern bureaucratic system, exposed by T.
Here T. showed himself as a talented satirist. Some of his satirical poems directed against tsarism and bureaucracy (“Russian History from Gostomysl”, “Popov’s Dream”) are a masterpiece of this genre and at one time enjoyed great popularity in radical circles, somewhat reconciling the latter with the reactionary attacks of T. T’s satirical talent . was also reflected in the creation (together with the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers) of the image of Kozma Prutkov.
The best dramatic works of T. (“The Death of Ivan the Terrible”, “Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich”) are characterized by great dramatic power and acute relevance for their time. T. is much more conventional in his salon lyrics. The historical novel "Prince Silver", imbued with the preaching of monarchism, is artistically weak. “Prince Silver” essentially meant a return to what had become of the 60s and 70s. archaism type historical novel 30s, the most typical representative of which was Zagoskin. In “Prince Serebryany” there is the same schematism in the depiction of characters, the same naive opposition of virtue to vice, the same fascination with the external, superficial stylization of Moscow Rus', the stringing together of everyday details with an essentially extremely primitive interpretation of historical events.
Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a writer of multifaceted and brilliant talent. He created novels about the present and historical past of our Motherland, stories and plays, scripts and political pamphlets, autobiographical story and fairy tales for children.
A. N. Tolstoy was born in the city of Nikolaevsk, Samara province - now the city of Pugachev, Saratov region. He grew up in the wild life of the bankrupt Trans-Volga landowners. The writer colorfully depicted this life in his stories and novels written in 1909–1912. (“Mishuka Nalymov”, “Cranks”, “The Lame Master”, etc.).
Great October socialist revolution Tolstoy did not accept it right away. He emigrated abroad.
“Life in exile was the most difficult period of my life,” Tolstoy later wrote in his autobiography. “There I understood what it means to be a guy, a person, cut off from his homeland, weightless, barren, not needed by anyone under any circumstances.”
Homesickness evoked in the writer's memory childhood memories and pictures of his native nature. This is how the autobiographical story “Nikita’s Childhood” (1919) appeared, in which you can feel how deeply and sincerely Tolstoy loved his homeland, how he yearned away from it. The story tells about the writer's childhood, beautifully depicting pictures of Russian nature, Russian life, and images of Russian people.
In Paris, Tolstoy wrote the science fiction novel Aelita.
Returning to his homeland in 1923, Tolstoy wrote: “I became a participant in a new life on earth. I see the tasks of the era." The writer creates stories about Soviet reality (“Black Friday”, “Mirage”, “Union of Five”), a science fiction novel “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid”, a trilogy “Walking in Torment” and a historical novel “Peter I”.
Tolstoy worked on the trilogy “Walking Through Torment” (“Sisters”, “The Eighteenth Year”, “Gloomy Morning”) for about 22 years. The writer defined its theme as follows: “This is the lost and returned Motherland.” Tolstoy talks about the life of Russia during the period of revolution and civil war, about the difficult path to the people of Russian intellectuals Katya, Dasha, Telegin and Roshchin. The revolution helps the heroes of the trilogy determine their place in the national struggle for socialism and find personal happiness. The reader parts with them at the end of the civil war. Begins new stage in the life of the country. The victorious people begin to build socialism. But, saying goodbye to his regiment, the heroes of the novel Telegin says: “I warn you - there is still a lot of work ahead, the enemy has not yet been broken, and it is not enough to break him, he must be destroyed... This war is such that it must be won, it cannot be won cannot win... On a stormy, gloomy morning we went out into battle for a bright day, but our enemies want a dark robber night. And the day will rise, even if you burst out of frustration...”
The Russian people appear in the epic as the creators of history. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, he fights for freedom and justice. In the images of representatives of the people - Ivan Gora, Agrippina, Baltic sailors - Tolstoy reflects fortitude, courage, purity of feelings, devotion to the Motherland Soviet people. With a big artistic power the writer managed to capture the image of Lenin in the trilogy, to show the depth of thoughts of the leader of the revolution, his determination, energy, modesty and simplicity.
Tolstoy wrote: “To understand the secret of the Russian people, its greatness, you need to know its past well and deeply: our history, its fundamental nodes, the tragic and creative eras in which the Russian character was born.”
One of these eras was the era of Peter the Great. A. Tolstoy addressed her in the novel “Peter I” (the first book – 1929–1930, the second book – 1933–1934). This is a novel not only about the great transformer Peter I, but also about the fate of the Russian nation in one of the “tragic and creative” periods of its history. The writer truthfully talks about the most important events of Peter's era: the Streltsy revolt, the Crimean campaigns of Prince Golitsyn, Peter's struggle for Azov, Peter's travels abroad, his transformative activities, about the war between Russia and the Swedes, about the creation of the Russian fleet and new army, about the founding of St. Petersburg, etc. Along with all this, Tolstoy shows the life of the most diverse segments of the population of Russia, the life of the masses.
When creating the novel, Tolstoy used a huge amount of material - historical research, notes and letters from Peter’s contemporaries, military reports, court archives. “Peter I” is one of the best Soviet historical novels; it helps to understand the essence of a distant era, fosters love for the Motherland and legitimate pride in its past.
For children younger age Tolstoy wrote the fairy tale “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio.” Based on the material of the fairy tale, he made a film script and a play for the children's theater.
During the Great Patriotic War A. Tolstoy spoke about the strength and heroism of the Soviet people in the fight against the enemies of the Motherland. His articles and essays: “Motherland”, “Blood of the People”, “Moscow is Threatened by an Enemy”, the story “Russian Character” and others - inspired the Soviet people to new exploits.
During the war years, A. Tolstoy also created the dramatic story “Ivan the Terrible,” consisting of two plays: “The Eagle and the Eaglet” (1941–1942) and “Difficult Years” (1943).
A wonderful writer was also outstanding public figure. He was repeatedly elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Patriotic writer and humanist, artist of a wide creative range, master of the perfect literary form, who mastered all the riches of the Russian language, Tolstoy went through a difficult creative path and took a prominent place in Russian Soviet literature.
Count Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, whose biography and work are presented in the article, is a poet, prose writer and playwright, second cousin L.N. Tolstoy and the maternal grandson of Count A.K. Razumovsky. After his parents’ divorce, he was raised by his uncle, the writer Antony Pogorelsky (A.A. Perovsky), received home education, served in civil and military service, was an aide-de-camp to Alexander II, court master of ceremonies and huntsman; After retiring, he lived on his estates, enjoying hunting. He had enormous physical strength, but he fell ill with asthma early and died from the consequences of improper treatment.
Early examples of Tolstoy's prose - stories written in French " Ghoul Family" And " Meeting after three hundred years"(not published during the author’s lifetime). The first published work is “ Ghoul"(1841, the author's pseudonym Krasnorogsky alluded to the name of Tolstoy's family estate, Krasny Rog, Chernigov province). There is no doubt that these texts were influenced by the mystical fiction of the writer’s uncle A. A. Perovsky (Antony Pogorelsky). At the same time, this “mystical” trait will turn out to be organic to Tolstoy’s own style (it will appear later, for example, in the novel “ Prince Silver"in the line of the miller-sorcerer). In the 1840s, A.K. Tolstoy under the influence of techniques natural school He also tried his hand at the genre of physiological essays (it is interesting that his “hunting” essays preceded the publication of the first works of I.S. Turgenev from the series “Notes of a Hunter”).
The lyrics of Tolstoy the poet are surprisingly bright, “multicolored”. Its best examples indicate that the author had a powerful, although artistically uneven, talent. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, as a rule, is an excellent poet of his native nature, kinship and fusion with which for him lyrical hero deeply organic, with the life of which he constantly correlates his human life. Much of love lyrics Tolstoy is one of the pinnacle achievements of Russian poetry. In the poetry of love, his lyrical hero appears as a noble knight, taking upon himself the burdens of life, a heroically indestructible defender of his beloved woman (“Listening to your story, I fell in love with you, my joy!”). This strong and cheerful man filled Russian poetry with bright, optimistic intonations.
At times, the lyrical poems of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, especially the early ones, are spoiled by excessive self-indulgence, as well as some rhetoric and pretense - for example, the image of a “daring” boasting of his “strongness” good fellow"Sometimes it takes on the character of a pose. Tolstoy is no stranger to a passion for romantic “beauties.”
The only lifetime collection of poems by A.K. Tolstoy " Poems"(1857) was published in a period that was very beneficial for Russian poetry - it came out against the backdrop of such brilliant publications as the first book by F.I. Tyutchev, the third book by A.A. Fet, the second book by N.A. Nekrasova and others. By this time, the author was already known as a poet for his publications in Russky Vestnik and Sovremennik. In addition, Tolstoy’s participation in the creation of the author’s work was well known in literary circles. image of Kozma Prutkov(together with the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers). “Kozma Prutkov” published his satirical and humorous works from the early 1850s, in addition, in 1851 his comedy-parody “ Fantasy»
Since 1857, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, whose biography and work developed rapidly, became a regular contributor to the Slavophile magazine “ Russian conversation"and a friend of his unofficial editor I.S. Aksakova. They had many points of contact.
Tolstoy's own dreams of unity Slavic peoples embodied, for example, in famous poem « Bells", the first three stanzas of which were set to music by composer P.P. Bulakhov and became a song, which later became folklorized and acquired the character of a “folk song”.
What separated Tolstoy from the Slavophiles was his love for Western European culture, which coexisted in him with ardent national patriotism. The fact is that Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy considered Russian culture a natural part of the culture of Europe. He perceived Russian history in his youth through the prism of the works of N.M. Karamzin and his supporters, and repeated more than once in different ways that our natural unity with the West was broken and distorted by the consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion.
As if continuing the theme of “Tatarism,” mistakenly taken by many for something nationally Russian, in one of Tolstoy’s letters he says that the poets Konstantin Aksakov and Alexei Khomyakov, “deeply sympathetic” to him, wanting to demonstrate their Slavophilism, “walked in Moscow in coachman’s caftans with oblique (Tatar) collar.” Spiritual loneliness, an almost inevitable consequence of such a special position, did not frighten A.K., who was accustomed to feeling like an indestructible strongman. Tolstoy.
In one poem, Tolstoy directly declares his intention to go “against the current” in order to thus excite the “counter current” and become a “wave winner” (“ Against the stream", 1867). Not feeling like he belonged in the circle of Slavophiles, Tolstoy simultaneously treated with contempt the representatives of cosmopolitan “nihilism”, but also the Russian lyceum bureaucracy that persecuted both of them. Tolstoy's ironic poems and poems remind us of this. “History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev” (1868), “The Bogatyr Stream” (1871), “Popov’s Dream” (1873) and etc.
A.K. combines extraordinary wit. Tolstoy with the strength and independence of thought. This objectively elevated him above the satire and humor of V. Kurochkin, D. Minaev and other authors from democratic circles, which often took on the character of simple crude ridicule. In addition, Tolstoy the poet had a pronounced style individual style major artist. In addition to poems, this is evidenced by Tolstoy’s poems ( "The Sinner", "The Alchemist", "John of Damascus" and etc.).
There is no doubt the significant role of A.K. Tolstoy in reforming Russian rhyme - despite the reproaches of some contemporaries against him, he fundamentally and consciously used “approximate rhymes”, which became widespread several decades later.
Paraphrases and reminiscences are very characteristic of the work of A.K. Tolstoy. In this he is similar to G.R. Derzhavina. A.S. Pushkina, F.I. Tyutchev and others greatest poets. For example, one of his poems creatively refracts the intonations of Pushkin’s “On the hills of Georgia lies the darkness of the night...”:
Silence descends on the yellow fields...
The rhythm of the even lines in Tolstoy’s poem differs from the rhythm of Pushkin’s lines, the lyrical “reason” for writing it is different than that of its predecessor, and the idea behind it is different. In other words, reminiscences from Pushkin are refracted in an original and creative way. Tolstoy wants to project the experiences of his lyrical hero onto Pushkin’s text, to indicate a spiritual relationship with him. Similar techniques subsequently, in silver Age became widespread in poetry (V. Bryusov, A. Blok, N. Gumilev, G. Ivanov, etc.), but during the life of A.K. For Tolstoy, they did not always meet with the understanding of readers, sometimes causing accusations of imitation. Meanwhile, on the basis of paraphrastic techniques, Tolstoy, following Pushkin, created, for example, his deeply original version of the famous “vagrant” plot - the dramatic poem “ Don Juan"(published in 1862).
Tolstoy's variation of the plot about Don Juan includes a number of completely new aspects. Thus, his Don Juan is the “chosen one of the Creator,” called to “good deeds,” and Satan in the “Prologue” precisely for this reason vows to make him “like himself.” However, having become a sinner and having ultimately killed Donna Anna (she commits suicide), Don Juan does not fall into hell with the statue of the commander he killed: the statue reports that he has been granted the opportunity to repent and “disappears,” and Don Juan in the “Epilogue” many years later he dies as a monk, a righteous man, who is mourned by the brethren of his monastery and all the people in the area (in Soviet publications, the “Epilogue”, unfortunately, is usually absent).
Excellent creative stylization of an ancient Italian text in the poem “ The Dragon“, which helps the author convey the spirit of the era, also clearly demonstrates the fruitfulness of Tolstoy’s paraphrastic techniques.
Historical ballads by A.K. Tolstoy ( “Prince Mikhailo Repnin”, “Vasily Shibanov”, “Roman Galitsky”, “Staritsky Voivode” etc.) describe the courageous natures and expressive characters that always attracted him to people. Tolstoy loved and studied the history of Russia, considered himself an expert on it, and in a certain sense, he was. In his works, he sometimes departs from factual reality, from what he could learn from chronicles, works of historians, etc. - but he does this in the name of integrity and artistic power images of Russian antiquity, masterpieces national culture They found in him not only a deep connoisseur, but also a decisive defender.
Some of his letters include remarkably witty and irresistibly on-target literary parodies (on Shakespeare - in a letter to I.S. Aksakov dated December 31, 1858, on the techniques of modern French and Russian novelists, on articles by democratic critics - in letters to S. A. Tolstoy dated June 29, 1864 and B. M. Markevich dated May 14, 1871, etc.) Studies of Russian history were refracted not only in the ballads of A.K. Tolstoy, but also in his prose and drama. The result was the famous historical novel from the era of Ivan the Terrible “ Prince Silver"(published 1862), poetic drama trilogy - tragedies “The Death of Ivan the Terrible” (1866), “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” (1868), “Tsar Boris” (1870), as well as an unfinished drama " Posadnik"(1870 - 1871), telling about events from the history of ancient Novgorod.
The image of Ivan the Terrible, the image of Boris Godunov, which runs through the entire trilogy, the image of False Demetrius (whom Tolstoy Alexey Konstantinovich did not consider Grigory Otrepiev, believing that it was some other person not identified by historians), the image of the son of the Terrible Tsar Fyodor are among the strongest creations Russian drama. Unlike the novel “Prince Silver,” in which Tolstoy gave an artistic and stylistic refraction of his romantic inclinations, his plays are unexpectedly realistic, distinguished by penetrating psychologism and a deep understanding of the logic of the actions of historical figures, the very course of history.
Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, whose biography and work were presented in the article, was a writer of great natural talent, who followed his own special path in literature, extremely independent and stylistically original. His best works are included in the golden fund of poetry, prose and drama. The strong and noble personality of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, who embodied best qualities Russian man - as if a real life continuation of those principles and ideals that he sang in his artistic work.
Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy, whose biography will be discussed in this article, is a writer of bright and multifaceted talent. He wrote novels about the historical past of Russia and the present, plays and stories, political pamphlets and scripts, fairy tales for children and an autobiographical story. About the fate of this wonderful person It will be useful for everyone to know.
Origin
The biography of Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy began back in 1883. He was born on December 29 in Nikolaevsk, in the Samara province. The future writer was brought up in the family of a landowner. His stepfather - A. Bostrom - was the heir of the sixties and a liberal. Tolstoy's mother, Alexandra Leontievna, left her legal husband for him. She was an educated woman noble origin. Her maiden name is Turgeneva, she was great-niece Decembrist Nikolai Turgenev. The writer's father was Count Tolstoy Nikolai Alexandrovich. However, some attribute paternity to the boy’s stepfather, Alexei Apollonovich Bostrom. This moment in the origin of Alexei Nikolaevich is still a mystery for biographers.
Childhood
The boy's early years were spent in Sosnovka, a farm owned by his stepfather. The future writer received his primary education at home, studying under the guidance of a visiting teacher. Further, the biography of Alexei Tolstoy continued in Samara, where he moved with his parents in 1897. There the boy entered a real school and graduated in 1901. He then moved to St. Petersburg to continue his education. There, Alexey Nikolaevich entered the Technological Institute in the mechanics department. His first poetic experiments, created under the influence of the works of Nadson and Nekrasov, date back to the same time.
Early creativity
The young man was so fascinated by writing that in 1907, before defending his diploma, he left the institute and decided to devote himself entirely to literary creativity. short biography Alexei Tolstoy says that in 1908 he composed a book of poems called “Beyond the Blue Rivers,” which was the result of his acquaintance with Russian folklore. A year later he wrote his first story, “A Week in Turgenev.” Then two of the writer’s novels saw the light - “The Lame Master” and “Eccentrics”. M. Gorky himself drew attention to the works of Alexei Tolstoy. He described them as the creations of an undoubtedly great and powerful writer. Critics also showed favor to the author's first publications.
War years
The biography of Alexei Tolstoy during the First World War deserves special attention. The writer worked as a war correspondent for the Russian Vedomosti publication, was at the fronts, and visited France and England. At this time, he wrote a number of stories and essays about the war: “On the Mountain”, “Beautiful Lady”, “Under Water”. Alexey Nikolaevich also turned to drama and composed two plays - “Killer Whale” and “ Devilry" The events of the February revolution aroused the writer's interest in the problems Russian statehood. He became seriously interested in the history of the times of Peter the Great. The writer spent many days in the archives, trying to penetrate into the essence of that difficult time.
Alexei Nikolaevich perceived the October Revolution with hostility. During the general unrest, his brothers died and other relatives were shot, some died from disease and hunger. The writer blamed the Bolsheviks for everything. He still continued to work, historical themes appeared in his work (the stories “The Day of Peter”, “Obsession”), but in 1918 he moved with his family to Odessa, and from there he emigrated abroad.
Emigration
The biography of Alexei Tolstoy continued in Paris. The writer spoke of this period as the most difficult period of his life. Far from his homeland, he had a hard time. Domestic disorder was aggravated by the fact that Tolstoy could not find like-minded people among the emigrants. No one shared his boundless faith in the Russian people. Overcoming the oppressive longing for his homeland, Alexey Nikolaevich composed several works permeated with memories of his sweet childhood. In 1920, he wrote the story “Nikita’s Childhood,” and two years later published the book “The Adventures of Nikita Roshchin.” In 1921, Tolstoy moved to Berlin. Here he joined the Smenovekhov group “Nakanune”. This socio-political association of Russian emigrants abandoned the fight against the power of the Soviets and moved on to its actual recognition. As a result former friends due to emigration they turned away from Alexei Nikolaevich. In 1922, Gorky visited Berlin. The writer established close friendly relations with him. Under the influence of Alexei Maksimovich, the writer published an “Open Letter to N.V. Tchaikovsky” in 1922, in which he explained the reasons for his break with the white emigration and unconditionally recognized Soviet power. While living abroad, Tolstoy wrote many prose works: “The Manuscript Found Under the Bed”, “Black Friday”, the novel “Aelita” and the first part of the “Walking in Torment” trilogy - “Sisters”.
Homecoming
The biography of Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy took a new fateful turn in 1923 - the writer returned to Russia. In his homeland in subsequent years, along with countless stories and short stories, he wrote the second and third parts of “Walking Through Torment”: “The Eighteenth Year” and “Gloomy Morning”. Then the writer created the frankly unsuccessful loyalty story “Bread,” in which he glorified the defense of Tsaritsyn under the leadership of Stalin, and the pompous play “The Path to Victory.” However, soon Alexei Nikolaevich comes up with a truly brilliant idea. He begins to compose the historical novel “Peter the Great,” in which he strongly approves of the activities of the great reformer. It was assumed that Stalin's harsh methods were deeply rooted in Russian history. This gesture was appreciated by the authorities. Alexei Tolstoy, whose brief biography is given in this article, was showered with all sorts of favors and earned the nickname “Comrade Count.” The writer took almost sixteen years to create the novel “Peter the Great,” and it remained unfinished.
The Great Patriotic War
Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy, whose biography is interesting and instructive, during the Great Patriotic War he often spoke with stories, essays, articles, the main characters of which were ordinary people who managed to show themselves in difficult trials. During the war years, he managed to brilliantly demonstrate his journalistic gift. Alexey Nikolaevich wrote more than sixty patriotic articles, including the famous essay called “Motherland” (in 1941, November 7). In addition, he composed a series of front-line essays “Stories of Ivan Sudarev” and a dramatic duology “Ivan the Terrible”. In his works, Alexei Tolstoy sought to convey the indestructible spirit of his compatriots. “Russian Character” is a story that makes readers think about those who managed to give their lives for the freedom of the Fatherland. Subsequently, the writer wanted to write a novel about the feat of the Russian people during the Great Patriotic War, but this plan remained unfulfilled.
last years of life
In hospitable and open house The writer had guests all the time. We gathered here interesting people: musicians, actors, writers. Alexei Tolstoy, whose Russian character did not allow him to isolate himself within four walls and devote himself entirely to creativity, knew how to live in grand style and generously shared the benefits he received with friends. The writer was married several times, women loved him for his unusually easy character and breadth of nature.
The biography of Alexei Tolstoy ended in 1945, on February 23, in Moscow. He only a few months did not live to see the Victory. The writer was buried with great honors at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Tolstoy Alexey Konstantinovich. Childhood
It is well known that Alexei Tolstoy was not the only one who made his mark in Russian literature. A brief biography of one of them was outlined above, but another famous Russian writer deserves no less attention. Tolstoy Konstantin Alekseevich was born on September 28, 1878 in the village of Krasny Rog, Chernigov province. His father was Count Tolstoy Konstantin Petrovich, and his mother was illegitimate daughter Count Razumovsky Perovskaya Anna Alekseevna. For unknown reasons, the woman broke up with her husband immediately after the birth of the boy and, instead of his own father, the future writer was raised by his maternal uncle, A. A. Perovsky. This man became famous in Russian literature under the pseudonym Antony Pogorelsky.
Alexey spent his early years in Ukraine, on his uncle’s estate - the village of Pogoreltsy. From the age of ten, the boy was constantly taken abroad. The future writer was part of the inner circle of the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Alexander II.
Career and creativity
Having matured, Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy made a successful civil career. First (in 1934) he was assigned to the “students” of the Moscow archive at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then he served in the Russian diplomatic mission in Germany, and in 1940 he entered the service in St. Petersburg at the court, where he received the rank of chamber cadet in 1943 .
A short biography of Alexei Tolstoy cannot reveal everything significant events in his life. It is known that in the 1830-1840s he composed in French two fantastic works: the stories “Meeting after Three Hundred Years” and “The Ghoul’s Family.” In May 1941, the writer published his book for the first time - fantastic story"Ghoul". Belinsky reacted very favorably to this work and saw in it glimpses of remarkable talent.
Personal life
The biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy in 1850 was marked by important event- he fell in love with Colonel Miller’s wife Sofya Andreevna. This marriage was officially formalized only in 1863, as it was prevented by the relatives of the lovers. On the one side, ex-husband Sofia Andreevna did not give a divorce, but on the other hand, the writer’s mother did her best to interfere with her son’s relationship.
Alexey Tolstoy, whose work and life are covered in this article, retired in 1861. He settled near St. Petersburg, on the banks of the Tesna River in the Pustynka estate, and only occasionally visited the capital. In the next decade of his life (1860-1870) he often traveled abroad and traveled to England, France, Germany, and Italy. The writer did not give up his creativity and was constantly published in the magazines “Bulletin of Europe”, “Russian Bulletin” and “Sovremennik”. In 1867, Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy published a collection of his poems. The biography of this man was rich interesting events. He left his mark on Russian literature.
Demise
The writer died in 1975, on September 28, during another attack of severe headache. The biography of Konstantin Alekseevich Tolstoy ended because he injected himself with too much morphine, which was prescribed to him by a doctor. The estate museum of this wonderful man is located in Krasny Rog (Bryansk region). The writer spent his childhood here and returned here several times. In this estate, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, whose biography is interesting to many, found his last refuge. The writer did not leave behind any children. He only raised adopted daughter- Bakhmetyeva Sofya Petrovna.
Tolstoy Alexey Konstantinovich. Creative heritage
The works of Alexei Tolstoy were distinguished by their noticeable originality. The writer created many satirical poems and ballads. He is also the author of the famous historical novel "Prince Silver". The creative biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy is also associated with the writing of a dramatic trilogy about Ivan the Terrible. In addition, this wonderful author wrote lyric poems. It is enough to recall the lines from the popular romance “Among the Noisy Ball...” to appreciate the full power of Alexei Konstantinovich’s literary talent. Tolstoy was also a good playwright. In 1898, the opening of the Moscow Art Theater was marked by the production of its historical drama Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich.
And we certainly cannot ignore the comic talent of this wonderful writer. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, whose biography is very rich, along with the Zhemchuzhny brothers created immortal image Kozma Prutkov. More than half of the works of this funny character are his authorship.
Now you know the biographies of two outstanding Russian writers. Tolstoy is a surname that is forever entrenched in Russian literature as a symbol of the highest literary talent, which not everyone can surpass.